Hi! I was asked by a friend to design a couple websites together. I was wondering if anyone had any resources they used for web design.

I know HTML, CSS, Java Script, some PHP, and a little SQL, so I'm not too worried about the scripting part. It's the design part I'm unfamiliar with, as I've been learning about design for printed media. (Is there a CommArts for web design?) Do you have any advice or links for web design? Thanks!

PS: What are your thoughts about Drupal?

It all depends on the size and dynamics of the website. Do you plan on having a small, static site, or large and dynamic? Do you plan to bring in people to interact with content in some way? Your answers will all determine whether you should go plain html, CSS, or for a larger CMS style software backbone.

Drupal is a beast to learn. Nothing like the above mentioned codes. It is a core module with third party plugins... and that is where you can lose yourself forever. Each plugin comes with it's own affordances and constraints.

Yeah it's infinitely configurable... but unless it's your full time job, it'll become a full time job just to maintain updates on both the core and individual modules. Not sure if the same could also be said for Joomla and the like.

I use a mix of Photoshop and Illustrator for designing, it really depends on how graphical or non-graphical your site is and what kind of graphics.

Also, CSS > graphics. And CSS > flash. And CSS > html tags or tag attributes. W3C validation is your friend. Maybe not important for a very small site, but if you apply good design practice from the start, it will come natural forever.

One site's supposed to have an online shopping cart, so I was imagining something flexible enough for the owner to add new products without much fuss. The other site sounds like it's more static. I'm getting details tomorrow.

I'm self-taught in HTML and CSS. ^^;; I haven't used it in a while, but W3's Validation is one of my bookmarks.

Drupal sounds like something for a full-time web-admin?

Joomla? I'm pretty new to this.

Joomla and Drupal are tools for building websites. I've never used one before, but they are more complex than setting up a wordpress site, and less complex than using a real programming framework like Django or Rails.

I'm a little bit confused on your goals here - are you only interested in the design (how the page looks and how the elements are situated), or do you actually want to create functionality?

I guess both? Since I want a good functional website (which in my mind means an easy-to-navigate interface for a new visitor and clean, maintainable code in the back). I'm not familiar Joomla or Drupal, but I'm willing to learn the tools needed for the job.

If you're really serious about web development, your best bet is to learn one of the web frameworks out there (not Drupal or Joomla, which have a lower learning curve than real frameworks, but you're more limited). The one I personally use is Ruby on Rails. Other options include Django and cakePHP...among dozens more. Rails is one of the more popular and easiest to find help with when you run into problems. The best book out there to learn Rails is http://pragprog.com/titles/rails4/agile-we...ment-with-rails. Rails uses Ruby as its programming language.

However, Rails is primarily about functionality. Learning to design is more of an art form, and not one that I'm personally really great at. My advice would be to look at other websites that you like the look off, and analyze their CSS. It would also be helpful to find some web design blogs out there and follow them.

Here are a couple of design blogs I follow:
http://css-tricks.com/
http://www.alistapart.com/

Here is an awesome site to learn specific things about Rails:
http://railscasts.com/

Here is a blog about the business of web development (one of the guys who works there is the lead developer and creator of Rails):
http://37signals.com/svn/

Oh yay! I happened to have learned some Ruby a few semesters back. Thanks Deschain!

For full-blown webstores, there are some choices of software specifically for that purpose, though I can't for the life of me recall which one I've worked with in the past. Don't have access to the project anymore so I can't check. All I remember is that it was php, and a paid license. There's sure to be some free stuff floating about though. If only to look at and borrow ideas from.

That's another great thing about Rails - there are thousands of plugins out there, called "ruby gems", or just "gems", that add in additional functionality.

Here's the most popular ecommerce rails gem: http://spreecommerce.com/